


Once Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

by nightyn628



Category: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Jedi Cliff Booth, M/M, Not Beta Read, Senator Rick Dalton, Star Wars References, confused grammar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 01:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29693178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightyn628/pseuds/nightyn628
Summary: Raindrops still hit the ground, a little bit of mud splashed at his shoes. In front of Cliff was a man in light blue pajamas. A small pistol aiming at the former Jedi was so intimidating."What do you want from me?"The owner of the building spoke in an aggressive tone. There was a fragment of fear mixed in his voice together with frustration. Cliff cracked a sloppy smile and slowly took off his hood. Raindrops hit his face. It was drenched and annoying. But at least, the senator quickly dropped the gun when he saw a familiar face."Jedi Cliff Booth?""Just Cliff Booth, Senator. I am not a Jedi anymore."
Relationships: Cliff Booth & Rick Dalton, Cliff Booth/Rick Dalton
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Once Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language. Please feel free to comment and correct my grammatical errors, misspelling vocabularies, and all of the weird things in this work. Thank You.

A long time ago, since he was a Jedi Initiate. Someone once said to him that this galaxy had no patterns. No matter how the Galactic Republic tried to organize it, everything was still uniquely mixed. Civilization, barbaric, calmness, and chaos. All of them mixed. It was like a work of abstract art that was hard to imitate, due to the will of the Force, the mysterious energy that was the starting point of this galaxy.

Cliff Booth couldn't help laughing out loud, ah, yes, at that time he was just a 10-year-old boy, who didn't even have his lightsaber, but he still laughed at the words of the Jedi Knight who was responsible for teaching younglings all the basic things. Of course, the Jedi Knight was mad. His first day of teaching was already humiliated by one child. But in the end, he managed to control his mind and asked Cliff to explain to the class why he laughed like that.

'Only a Jedi can view inequality as a beautiful art and just admire it without thinking of changing anything.' He replied. Something like that. Cliff didn’t remember his answer accurately. That was about thirty years ago. But the thing he remembered precisely was the Jedi textbook that he used to study at that time. Because Cliff was ordered to copy all of the text in the whole book by writing it for days, he still remembered every chapter completely.

Cliff tightened his hood while stomping his feet on the dirty wet road. That was how the Jedi was. Most of them were genuinely respectful while some of them were disgusting, but of course, all of them were peacemakers that worked on top of the ivory tower. Some of the Jedi principles were admirable. But some of them convinced many Jedi to quickly cut themselves off from their surrounding problems. Help if you can. Ignore if you can’t. Just left it like that and said it follows the will of the Force.

But Cliff wasn't one of them. He never used to be like them. He frequently fought against the Jedi Council many times. That was Cliff Booth. He was different from the rest of the temple. Unpredictable, arrogant, and individual. Most of the Jedi rules had been broken by him. That was his identity.

But he still stayed in this strict organization until he was forty years old. Of course, Cliff and the council didn’t like each other. That was common knowledge in the Jedi temple. Even the younglings knew. But Cliff's existence was the reason why the Jedi Council had a skillful Jedi to deal with difficult and dangerous missions. And serving the Order was the main reason why Cliff had a place to sleep, eat, and the most important thing, he was granted access to deal with difficult missions with many resources. That’s why they could tolerate each other, even if they constantly fight, Cliff and the Jedi Council were more patient than any outsider could have guessed.

Until recently, Cliff started to think about how to shut down this endless war.

It was only for a moment, a little voice spoke in his head before it disappeared, as if it never existed before. So, after finishing his mission, he went back to Coruscant and did what the council could not accept. Never accept. He brought many men and women to the temple, had sex with them all, and broadcasted his sex tape via the Holonet to share with the whole galaxy.

The result was ultimately what Cliff wanted.

Cliff packed his things cheerfully and left Coruscant as quickly as he could. Normally, he didn't want to be the one who asked to resign himself. It wasn’t cool for him to raise the white flag like that, he couldn't stand it. This was the only thing that Cliff shared with the Jedi Council. Pride. They both tried to save faces in their ways. That’s why Cliff forced them to kick him out of their temple. With this way of thought, he did not win that game. But, at least, he did not lose.

No need to play games with old folks anymore.

That was the reason why he came back here again, to the small planet in the outer rim that had nothing to win against the core world. Far away from civilization. Far away from prosperity. Full of pirates, smugglers, and spice runners. From the perspective of ordinary people, this place was not the best planet to live happily ever after.

For sure. Cliff chose this place for a reason.

He used to be here when he finished his last mission as a Jedi Knight. But this time, he was no longer a Jedi anymore. He dressed in old clothes, abandoned the proud Jedi uniform. There was no personal lightsaber hanging around his waist. Only a small knife and one blaster pistol.

Stomping his feet through the rain until reaching the destination, Cliff looked at a small building in front of him. It was the home of the senator he met in his last mission. The former Jedi stopped at the metal door. His arm reached out to a doorbell and then he heard a loud swearing sound coming from the inside, followed by slow and sleepy footsteps. Raindrops still hit the ground, a little bit of mud splashed at his shoes. But Cliff didn't care at all. He kept looking straight. Between the former Jedi and the senator, there was only a door in the middle between them.

The dark door slid open when the control switch was pressed from the inside. In front of Cliff was a man in light blue pajamas. A small pistol aiming at the former Jedi was so intimidating.

"What do you want from me?"

The owner of the building spoke in an aggressive tone. There was a fragment of fear mixed in his voice together with frustration. Cliff cracked a sloppy smile and slowly took off his hood. Raindrops hit his face. It was drenched and annoying. But at least, the senator quickly dropped the gun when he saw a familiar face.

"Jedi Cliff Booth?"

"Just Cliff Booth, Senator. I am not a Jedi anymore.” Cliff said. The senator still looked at the former Jedi questioningly but he finally allowed him to enter his home without hesitation.

"Come in."

Cliff couldn’t help but smiled. This guy was too easy to trust people as always.

The former Jedi quietly followed another man into the building. The senator’s name was Rick Dalton. He was Cliff's last mission. It was he who Cliff simply said goodbye before returning to Coruscant. And Dalton was Cliff's only destination when he was officially ejected from the temple.

In fact, Senator Dalton was the one who stopped Cliff from playing endless war with the Jedi Council.

Dalton was slightly extraordinary in Cliff’s point of view. His presence surprisingly calmed the mind of the former Jedi like no one ever did before. Being with him was wonderfully comfortable. Dalton was different from everyone in his entire life.

At first, Cliff didn’t understand himself. Why was he attracted to this senator so much? He always hated politicians. He didn’t trust all of them. But his feelings told him that Dalton was honest and too optimistic. He was the hardworking type that put too much effort into his work, as known as the opposite side of Cliff Booth. To be honest, with all of those characteristics, Dalton was supposed to be the person that Cliff didn’t hate but didn’t want to be involved with.

But it turned out that Dalton was the one who fulfilled Cliff’s emptiness. Dalton made Cliff’s time during the escort mission feel more special and different from the rest of his life. When they were together, everything in that moment was fine. Like a last piece of a jigsaw that finally found the rest of the whole piece and fitted together perfectly.

He didn’t know much about Dalton but Dalton’s existence was so ambiguous in his mind. Cliff loved to spend time together with him. And that reminded Cliff of the past.

Many Jedi believed in Balance. Cliff never understood that principle and didn't even want to understand it in the first place. He was the most extreme Jedi of all. That was the reason why Balance was not for him. But when he tried to think about it. At that moment, Cliff Booth just understood what Balance was like when he met Rick Dalton.

That was it. Rick Dalton was the best Balance in his life. During that time when they were on their escort mission, there were no Jedi Cliff Booth who lived without a pattern. Only Cliff Booth who was finally at peace. And that's something the Jedi couldn’t give him. No one could ever give him.

But Rick Dalton could.

The rain continued to fall. Even after entering the building, Cliff could still hear the sound of raindrops hitting the outer ground. Dalton threw a towel at the former Jedi who was beautifully grabbing it. The senator sat down on the dark sofa. His bright blue eyes curiously looked at the visitors in the night.

“Why did you return to this planet? Is there anything I can help you with?”

Cliff didn’t answer. His rough hand was still busy with his face and his messy hair. He rubbed and wiped them until the dry cloth became damp. At that time, both of them remained silent. Under the bright light and the roar of the rainstorm outside this building, the two pairs of blue eyes were still looking at each other without any uneasy feelings.

The former Jedi still doesn't take his eyes off from the guy right in front of him. Rick Dalton helped him become a normal Cliff. Not a Jedi Knight anymore. He cracked a little smile.

"I have nowhere to go. Can I apply to be your bodyguard forever, Senator?"

"Wait, what?"

Dalton gasped. It was such a hilarious reaction that a former Jedi couldn't help but laughed.

"Stop laughing!! You, of all people, came to me to apply for a job in the middle of the night?! I wasn’t prepared for this, you know? I thought you had a problem with the other Jedi and wanted something to clear your mind before coming back to your temple. That's why you came here like a temporary runaway kid and then you just told me that you want a new job? Holy shit. What the kriff is happening here?”

This time, Cliff laughed even louder than before. Only people like Dalton could compare Jedi to a runaway kid like that. With that misunderstanding, the senator welcomed him in and carefully avoided pushing him under pressure. The more he thought about that, he couldn’t stop laughing. The room that used to be quiet suddenly changed like that.

In the end, the senator shook his head in a grumpy mood. He disappeared for a while and came back with an old datapad, a set of clean clothes, a pillow, and a heavy blanket.

"This is your contract. Read it carefully and give me your answer tomorrow.” Dalton said as he handed his datapad to the former Jedi then put the other stuff on the big sofa. Dalton didn't think that Cliff would make a quick decision but when he raised his head again, the former Jedi handed him the datapad back.

Dalton opened his mouth widely and pushed the datapad back to Cliff, hoping that Cliff would rethink his decision again. Cliff simply denied to accept it.

"It’s a low-paid job, but a skillful Jedi like you still want it?"

"That’s good enough for me. The council never gives me any money except when I was out on a long mission, and that credit is just for my bed and meals. Contrary to the contract of yours, not only credit but you give me holidays and health care too. Who am I to turn off a good deal like this."

Hearing the words of the other, Dalton was shocked. He was speechless for a while because the new information was so bad. So the council didn’t pay for their Jedi? After processing everything in his head, he finally said a simple word.

"Rick"

"Oh?"

Two pairs of blue eyes met. Dalton sighed again.

"If you are not a Jedi anymore, then don't call me Senator Dalton. It’s too formal, you can call me Rick and I’ll call you Cliff, You good with that?"

Cliff nodded and smiled as he watched his new boss go back to the bedroom with the datapad. The former Jedi changed his clothes and lay down on the sofa. His blue eyes stared at the empty ceiling. If his younger self had seen this, he could have scolded him for being stupid. This was not freedom. All of his whole life was about serving someone. Changing his boss from the council to Dalton, like a dog with a new owner.

But Cliff didn’t care about that anymore. He just did what he wanted and he liked Dalton so much. The former Jedi hummed softly, his blue eyes looked at the window beside him. It was so dark and blurry due to the raindrops. No more annoying noise from the outside. Just silence.

Finally, the rain stopped.

…………..

**Author's Note:**

> Kriff is a swear word commonly used in Star Wars universe. Instead of f*ck/f*cking, they say kriff/ kriffing.


End file.
